Mizmor & Hell - Alluvion

We've yet to reach the peak, and perhaps we never will.

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on October 11th 2025) 

I’ve always found sludge to be the most “emotional” subgenre of metal. Not because it covers a wide spectrum mind you, but because of how little pretension there is behind it. Other metal subgenres, such as black metal, can be called “misanthropic” or “nihilistic”, along with a slew of other empty adjectives that I’m not all that averse to using, but these sentiments are oftentimes obscured by a subtle layer of romanticism that is nowhere to be found in sludge. The music is unremittingly vitriolic and hateful, and you’d be hard pressed to find anything that doesn’t fall under those categories in the most extreme ends of the genre. The sheer despondence expressed through the thick and oppressive atmosphere conjured by bands in the style makes them far more resonant than the chilly grimness that I’ve found to be more fitting to a change in seasons, rather than a state of being.

It's for that reason that I have found myself gravitating towards the bleaker soundscapes conjured by modern bands in the style, such as Mizmor and Hell. The two projects have been inextricably tied together for most of their existence, with ALN and MSW playing live for each other’s bands, in addition to having put out a split together. It’s a long-standing friendship that highlights the communal spirit of metal music, as well as the importance of having a scene to bring bands together. It is perhaps to no one’s surprise that the two decided to collaborate on Alluvion, a project which not only serves as a milestone for the pair, but is also one of Gilead Media’s final releases, a label that has dutifully supported a slew of underground bands over the years. As such, it is a rather significant release, especially on a metatextual level. Unfortunately, said significance does not extend to the music itself.

ALN’s collaborative efforts with other musicians have thus far been a mixed bag for me, ranging from the rather dour and flavourless ambience of Dialetheia, to the crushing Myopia, an album that brought the best aspects of both Mizmor and Thou together. Seeing as both Mizmor and Hell share plenty of their sonic DNA, I was quite excited to see how things would turn out. As it stands though, you can have too much in common with someone.

Whereas a collaboration is supposed to combine two artists’ unique creative visions in order to birth something that sounds fresh and different to what they do in isolation, what we have here is in essence a glorified split, in which each artist does vocal features on the other’s song. “Begging to be Lost”, is in essence a Hell track that has been stretched to its breaking point, taking up the majority of this project, and arguably showcases the pitfalls of this particular approach to sludge. The songwriting is meandering, confusing monotony for meditation, and drudgery for heaviness, with each passage attempting to wear the listener down emotionally through repetition. Even the most enthusiastic of aficionados are undoubtedly going to find themselves checking their watches while waiting for that lumbering bassy groove that Hell have made a staple of their sound to hit. And even then, that drugged-out Sabbathian riff is run into to the ground, a key change doing little to save it from outstaying its welcome.

It's especially unfortunate because the passages presented within the song are actually quite engaging in their own right, especially the forlorn acoustic segment that follows the aforementioned riff. It creates an especially melancholy and desolate atmosphere in conjunction with the distant chants and moans that accompany it, an oasis in an otherwise charmless experience. Further rubbing salt in the wound is the fact that there is a very lowkey tremolo riff at the end of the song, laced with some wailing notes that ironically enough, conjure up a feeling of hope. But it comes after what is ultimately a test of my patience, and any emotional satisfaction that I could have derived from it is heavily diminished.

The other “full” song here, “Pandemonium’s Throat”, is the Mizmor-coded track of this collaboration, and arguably the highlight of this project. For one, its briefer duration is put to better use, and the fast/slow interplay that the band excels at is in full swing here, focusing less on groovy riffing, with some percussive power chords being the closest thing the song has in terms of swagger. Even though it lacks an overtly catchy passage as a track, its pacing and build-up are far more effective and direct, the first half gradually increasing tension through excellent use of dissonance, further elevated by ALN and MSW trading vocal lines, nevermind the fact that their styles are relatively similar. The former’s inhale screaming is always a pleasure to hear, and it’s as haunting as it’s ever been. The track’s back half also features lead embellishments that help round out some cyclopean riffing that unsurprisingly, moves at a glacial pace.

Ultimately though, even this isn’t anything that could be deemed as out of the ordinary for Mizmor, well-executed as it might be. It’s the same building blocks that ALN has always employed, competently arranged, but ultimately elevated to highlight status by virtue of the competition not being able to measure up to it. I struggle to find something that makes it stand out within the context of the man’s discography, as it lacks a defining trait, either in terms of its structure, or textures.

That being said, I did find myself surprisingly engaged by the two “Vision” interludes, which serve as bookends to the full-fledged tracks, and they feel like a microcosm of what a proper fusion of Mizmor and Hell’s sounds could turn out to be. There’s a far greater emphasis on black metal, feeling far more detached and centred on ambience created through the textures that stem from this fusion. It’s all relatively formless, with a few chords providing some semblance of rhythmic structure in the case of “I”, whereas “II” stews in its misery, with clean chants slowly turning into ravenous rasps and howls, constantly fighting with each other over some brooding doom riffage. They’re bite-sized compared to their counterparts, and perhaps that is for the better, as the diversions they provide turn out to be quite engaging without overstaying their welcome. I know it’s odd to say such a thing about a sludge album, but it is warranted when the songwriting cannot support the compositions’ lengths.

There’s nothing more disheartening than listening to something you were looking forward to, excited to write about it, and coming out of the experience disappointed. Listen after listen, it sometimes feels like you’re grasping at straws trying to figure out if there’s something you’re missing that will make the whole thing “click” somehow, turning it into another notch in a musician’s belt. Sometimes though, it doesn’t happen, despite your best efforts. That’s how I feel about Alluvion. It simply doesn’t resonate, nor does it stack up with the two artists’ bodies of work. It’s been a good few months since it came out, and I’ve been procrastinating on writing about it because it just sucks to talk about things I don’t enjoy from people whose body of work I would otherwise consider among my favourites. Then again, I always tell people that you need to be able to critique your favourites rather than just swallow up whatever they put out and call it their best work to date, it was inevitable that I would have to walk the walk at some point.

Highlight: Pandemonium’s Throat

Rating: 55%